Comparison of Various Formulations of Three-Phase Flows in Porous Media

Abstract. Various formulations of the governing equations that describe threephase ow in porous media, including phase, global, and pseudo-global pressuresaturation formulations, are discussed in this paper. A comparison of these di erential formulations is theoretically and numerically presented for the rst time. It is shown that the global pressure-saturation formulation of the governing equations offers the potential for signi cant improvements in the e ciency of numerical schemes. 1